Co-Pilots
by BrokenChosenofEva
Summary: Co-Pilots arc for Pilot's Table. Asuka and Shinji have known each other for several years, and both come when Gendo calls for a Pilot.
1. Chapter 1

_**Neon Genesis Evangelion**_

_Pilot's Table_

By D.A.

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Title: Behold, Eva!

Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 32 (Discover)

Word Count: 1400+

Rating: T

Summary: Though they called for Shinji, Asuka will Pilot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything connected to it. I don't own anything connected to Xena. I do not own anything connected to Tang either.

Notes: I've come across a few fanfics where Shinji and Asuka knew each other when they were little, before Eva. Well, let them discover Eva. Together since the crib.

Part one of the "Co-Pilots" arc. Minor edits.

_Obviously AU. Not an X-over._

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"Shinji…" Asuka turned to Shinji and whispered, both of them standing behind Misato, the odd woman conversing with a blond in a lab coat who had introduced herself as a Doctor Ritsuko Akagi.

"Yeah, Asuka?" he whispered back, glancing for a second time through the booklet Misato had given them when she picked them up.

"Pull your nose out of the book for a minute and pay attention!" she hissed, annoyed at him for not paying attention, while the blond doctor argued a point with the purple haired captain.

"Didn't you hear Miss Katsuragi?" he asked her, jerking his gaze up from the booklet, confused as to why she upset with him.

"She said something about Eva. I _know_ I remember hearing about it before, and it wasn't from reading that booklet!" she returned, frowning at him. How could he believe he'd find something by looking a second time when it wasn't there the first time?

"How do you know it isn't in the book?" Shinji asked her, puzzled.

"Because," she said, sounding as if she were talking to a young child, which really they both were, "I looked through it while you were gawking at the Geofront."

Shinji ducked his head, wincing under the focused attention of his fiery friend. It was at this point that the elevator stopped at its destination, the door opening to reveal a catwalk over pink-tinted liquid and a dock with an inflatable boat waiting. Once they had all climbed aboard, Misato started its motor and set out for the far side of the cavernous room. Upon reaching the dock, and getting out of and tying off the boat, Ritsuko lead them to the heavy security door and put in her code.

"Build the suspense why don't you!" Asuka snapped once they had entered the darkened room beyond the security door, annoyed further.

Floodlights clicked on, filling the large room with harsh white-yellow light, and revealing the huge head and broad shoulders of a purple monster. Both Shinji and Asuka jerked back from it, and Asuka's breath caught in her throat.

It was the wrong color, and the face was shaped wrong but…

"Mama…" she breathed, barely loud enough for Shinji to hear her, a faint memory suddenly becoming sharp in her mind and triggering a faint recollection in his. He spared her a glance before the lights in a room hanging from the roof flickered on to reveal the reason Shinji, and thus Asuka, was there: Supreme Commander Gendo Rokobungi, Shinji's father and Asuka's godfather.

"It has been awhile, Shinji, Asuka." his voice echoed in the room, calm, if ever so faintly sad.

No one seemed to noticed anything beyond the calm.

"Father…" Shinji breathed, unsure how to react to Gendo. They'd avoided each other completely for two years now, their only link being Asuka and her determination not to be ignored by her godfather.

"Awhile? How about: For. Freaking. Ever!?" Asuka snapped, not effected by the attempt at intimidation in the slightest, her annoyance peaking.

Ritsuko arched a brown eyebrow, and Misato gaped open-mouthed at the two Children. Or more accurately, at Asuka. Asuka ignored both of them however.

"I will admit to being remiss in my visits as of late, and will correct that… Later. For now, you must be briefed on this beast, and the threat you met when the Captain-" here he directed his calm gaze at Misato, "retrieved you from the train station."

Taking that as her queue, Ritsuko stepped towards the Children and gestured to the purple thing in the center of the pink lake, a gesture that made it seem as if she were presenting a trophy. Which, in a way, she was.

"This is Evangelion Unit One, the second completed, combat-capable, cybernetic fighting-vehicle that is Nerv's primary tool in the defense of Earth against the Angels."

"I know what it is." Asuka said curtly, her memory of a red Evanglion mostly clear, startling the three adults, though Gendo didn't show his surprise, "It's just like the one that took mama. What I want to know is what you want us here for."

"One of you must Pilot it." Gendo said simply.

"I'll do it." Asuka stated firmly, "Just tell me what to do."

She would take the risk. She could feel the danger, or she imagined she could, surrounding this thing. It was a tool for combat, for fighting. For hurting.

For killing.

Shinji wasn't meant for fighting, he was meant to be playing his cello, or cooking great meals. He should be a doctor, not a fighter. Fighting was Asuka's domain, and she preferred the routine that the two of them had built-up over the last few years.

Xena, that's who she was. A guy had called her that once, a year back, when she had kicked him and his cronies out of the schoolyard when they had been bullying Shinji, for what reason he never told her. She'd looked it up, and found she liked the image of a warrior princess.

"Are you sure she can Pilot it?" Asuka heard Misato ask Ritsuko, the Doctor calling out instructions to some of the techs around the Cage, "I thought Shinji was the intended Pilot?"

"If Unit One won't accept her, then it will be as simple as pulling her out and sliding Shinji in." she replied off-handedly. Asuka stared at her. She'd what?!

"Do you even care what happens to these kids?" Misato asked, incredulous. Ritsuko shot her a glare out of the corner of her eye before replying.

"Hell of a time to grow a conscience, Katsuragi." Ritsuko's reply was short and cold, her tone of voice told Misato she'd asked the wrong question of her best friend.

"I'm sorry Ritz, it's just-"

"I know." Ritsuko cut her off gently, then turned to Asuka, "We don't have a plugsuit that would fit your figure. We had only been expected Shinji."

Asuka smiled inwardly at Ritsuko's comment about her figure, but frowned slightly at her mention of thinking only Shinji would come.

"Thus, you'll simply have to Pilot as is." Ritsuko waved her hand, as if to cut off any comment from Asuka, "We'll have spare clothes in your size by the time you return from this sortie."

Asuka frowned, why would she need spare clothes after Piloting a giant robot? She'd just sit in a chair and use whatever controls are there. Probably a couple of joysticks, a few buttons, and a lever or two.

"Shinji," Asuka said, turning to find him waiting nearby, watching her with a nervous expression, "Stay safe."

"I will Asuka."

Next, Asuka turned to Misato, and said fiercely, "You're going to the bridge, or wherever? Take Shinji, and guard him with your life."

Misato nodded, feeling despite herself like she had just gotten a direct order from the last person she ever wanted to cross. A fourteen-year old girl with a crush. Or was she a fourteen-year old sister? This wasn't quite the Asuka she remembered watching over back in Germany before they moved to Japan.

Asuka smiled at Shinji one more time, then followed Ritsuko across the catwalk and around to behind the Eva. Ritsuko briefed her on the basics of Eva Piloting while the entry plug, as she learned it was called, was removed and prepped for her to Pilot in.

It was both deceptively simpler and yet more complex than she had thought it would be.

Think walk and it will. Thought makes action. Got it.

Asuka climbed into the plug and sat in the command chair. It was obviously sized for someone her age. She was comfortable sitting there in her jeans and t-shirt and, when the plug sealed-up, felt safe. The controls consisted of two butterfly handles, which had several switches in the hand guard, and looked like they could be pulled back and up into regular joysticks.

Asuka took a deep breath, and a window opened up to her right. A crystal-clear flat-hologram floated over her right hand and displayed an older, dark haired version of Ritsuko.

"Hello Asuka, my name is Naoko Akagi." the woman said, sounding very much like Ritsuko, though her words weren't as clipped, "I'll guide you through the activation of the Evangelion. Ready?"

"Yeah, just get it over with. I've got a monster to beat up." Asuka returned, ready to get this all over with and go home.

As the Plug filled with a strange orange-tinted liquid, she wished she hadn't have been in such a rush.

_What is this stuff? Tang?!_

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	2. Chapter 2

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

_Pilot's Table_

By D.A.

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Title: New Arrangements

Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 36 (Threat)

Word Count: 2100+

Rating: T

Summary: Asuka fights off Sachiel in Eva One, and she and Shinji learn of the Angels.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything connected to it.

Notes: Part 2 of the "Co-Pilots" arc.

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"Why did you do it?" Ritsuko asked as she walked up behind Gendo Rokubungi and Kozo Fuyutsuki. Gendo turned in his chair to glance back at her.

"Do what, Doctor?" he asked, turning back to face the massive holo-display showing the progress of the Angel.

"Bring them both." she said, stopping to stand slightly behind Gendo on his right, just as Kozo stood on Gendo's left.

"It is Human Nature to protect what is important to you when it is threatened. By having both of them here, I ensure at least one will Pilot to protect the other." Gendo smiled faintly behind his hands, "Besides, their relationship reminds me of a certain couple back during college."

000

"_Gendo Rokubungi, get your sorry ass back in here now!" the fiery red-head yelled out the bar's front door, over the sounds of a brawl._

_Gendo straightened his jacket, ran a hand through his hair, and calmly waded back into the fight he and Kyoko Zeppelin Hiryu had started with their argument over…_

_Actually, he couldn't remember what they had been arguing about._

_He shrugged, whatever it had been must not have been overly important. That, or he had been losing._

_Again._

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"Although…" Gendo murmured to himself, "I don't recall ever being so compliant."

000

"The Eva!" Ritsuko cried, as the mangled, blood-drenched, yet still standing form of Unit-01 was lowered back into the Cage area and slid into place in Cage-7.

Considering the damage, it was amazing Asuka had even won, let alone walked the unit back to a lift.

"Oh don't whine." Asuka commented, wringing the LCL out of her hair as she walked out of the lift from the Plug chamber, watching the orange liquid in disgust, "I won didn't I? I even got it back to the lift so you wouldn't have to drag it back down here."

"But what did you do to it?" she demanded, gesturing at the unit, "And how are you even still conscious!"

Asuka looked at the Eva and shrugged. She'd heard them mention something about a thirty percent something right before the thing had made a grab for her arm and face, but she hadn't really paid attention after that point.

The Eva had certainly looked better, if more terrifying, before it was launched with Asuka Piloting it. The armor was covered in dents, the right hand was crushed, the left shoulder pylon was sheared off, the helmet's paint job had been burned off, and there were two holes punched through the stomach and chest.

"Well, it did hurt," Asuka shrugged again, "But I was a little busy pounding the Angel into the ground. Where's Shinji?"

Ritsuko blinked at the change in subject, then sighed and resignedly pointed Asuka across the catwalk to another elevator.

"Four floors up and down the left hand hallway. Commander's Office. Oh, and there is a change of clothes in the locker room." she said, before walking past her and into the maintenance lift Asuka had just left.

000

Having changed into what is obviously a school uniform, Asuka found her way to a pair of double doors labeled:

**Supreme Commander's Office**

**SCM. Rokubungi G.**

Taking a deep breath, Asuka slid the security card with her picture on it through the reader, and walked into the largest office she had ever seen.

Near the windows at the far side was Shinji. He stood next to a large solid desk, and seated behind it was indeed Gendo Rokubungi, his hands tented in front of his face.

"Asuka, please, come here. What I have to tell the two of you is of the utmost importance to the survival of Humanity."

"Are you ok, Asuka?" Shinji asked, concern faint in his voice. He looked her up and down, but she knew it was a search for injury and not the visual undressing typical of most males. That's just how Shinji was. Though her occasional teasing threats, though she was sure Shinji didn't know they were teasing, certainly helped a bit.

Asuka tossed her hair as she walked up to the desk, and planted her hands on it's smooth surface.

"Well, well, well. Long time, no see, Gott-vater*." she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, "I was starting to wonder if Auntie Yui and Mama's promise meant anything to you at all."

Shinji winced. Having spent the last fifteen minutes alone with his father, he already knew the man demanded respect and obedience. Neither of which Asuka was particularly good at.

Much to Shinji's and Asuka's surprise, Gendo snorted as he dropped his hands to lie flat on the desk.

"If there is one thing I will not do, it is ignore the instructions and promises of the woman I loved." he nodded to a small picture frame set at the edge of his desk, "Kyoko was like a sister to both Yui and I."

Asuka and Shinji looked at the small photo. It showed Gendo standing slightly off center, with one hand on Yui's shoulder as she sat in a seat to his right, and in her arms was an infant. On his left stood Kyoko, and in her arms was also an infant.

"Knew it," Asuka snorted, "He was never there when it counted."

"Yes, your father, I am afraid to say, is actually a worse parent than I am." Gendo typed at an inlaid keyboard, and a small hologram appeared over his desk, "But slightly more important matters are the concern of this briefing."

The hologram showed the monster Asuka had fought, and next to it was Unit-01. Around these two various readouts told of things like energy-output, reaction time, and percent damaged by the end of the battle.

"You performed beyond our expectations, though your synch-ratio was lower than we hoped. The synch-ratio, however, is not overly important in this case, as the Uint is meant for Shinji. Your own Unit is finishing construction in Nerv-Berlin."

"So how come it hurt?" Asuka asked, carefully eyeing the display, "I _felt_ when it stabbed me, the Unit I mean."

Gendo watched them both for a moment, then nodded.

"The Evangelion is a cyberneticly enhanced, cloned Angel." Shinji gasped, "The source DNA is buried deep below this base inside the Geofront."

"How does that explain me feeling it when the Eva gets damaged?"

"A synch-ratio is a measure of how in-tune the Pilot is with their Eva. The higher the ratio, the more precise control the Pilot has, and the more they feel what the Unit feels."

"What," Shinji paused, "what keeps the Eva from doing what it wants?"

"An A.I. core which is based on the chosen Pilot's own brain waves and thought patterns. The system was designed by the same woman who built the Magi supercomputers used by Nerv."

"So, we synch with ourselves?" Asuka asked sounding dubious.

"Essentially, yes. Though today you were technically synching with Shinji, as he is the template used for Unit One's A.I. core." Gendo responded.

The children glanced at each other, then turned back to Gendo.

"Is that why you called us back?" Shinji asked, "Just to fight?"

Gendo knew he was walking dangerous territory with this question, a result of several oversights on his part. He was appreciative of Kozo at least convincing him to remain in contact with the two, otherwise things might have been worse.

"Yes, and no." he answered, putting as much honesty in his voice as he could, and leaned forward, "While you are needed to Pilot the Evas, we can make new cores and select new Pilots if absolutely necessary."

"Oh." Shinji looked to the floor, and Gendo winced behind his glasses at the glare Asuka shot his direction.

"I had you come to better protect you. You are my son, and there are those who would try and use you to take me down." Shinji didn't stir, and Asuka fired another glare his way. Gendo sighed, frustrated. _Fine Sensei, you win. I'll try this your way._

"I have made mistakes in raising you, Shinji, and I wanted you back to try and correct those mistakes. I will not let the world end, but if it does, I will not let it end with me estranged from my only child." Gendo looked to Asuka and pointed to the photo as he spoke, "And I made a promise once, before I met Yui, that if things didn't work out for us, I would do what I could to make sure it did for the next generation."

Shinji looked up, smiling, while Asuka looked to the side. Gendo sighed again.

"I will continue to make mistakes. I am no more father material than Pieter, but I will make my best attempt. The Angels are a threat to what Yui held dear, and thus a threat to what I hold dear."

"And we have to fight it." Asuka nodded, "It figures. You up to this Shinji?"

"…yeah." Shinji clinch his right hand into a fist, then looked his father in the eye, "I'll do it."

"Good," Gendo said, standing, "I have paperwork to finish, so I will be delayed from joining you for dinner. Rei."

The two Children look at him confused, before a young girl carefully steps out of the shadows. Shinji gasped upon seeing the cast around her arm and bandage over her left eye, but Asuka simply took a step closer.

The uncovered red eye, set in a pale face framed by pale blue hair, watched her carefully, waiting for Asuka to speak or move away.

"Who are you?"

"Rei Ayanami, Third Children." the girl replied in a measured tone, looking to Gendo and Shinji before settling her gaze back on Asuka.

"Rei is the Pilot of the Experimental Unit. She arrived four days before you." Gendo said.

"How did you get hurt?" Shinji asked, standing slightly behind Asuka.

"We attempted to start Unit-E two days ago when part of the software in the A.I. core failed," Rei answered, "causing the Unit to behave erratically before full shutdown was achieved."

"Unfortunately, the A.I. ejected the plug inside the activation chamber," Gendo continued, "and while the LCL is meant to cushion against impacts, it was insufficient in this instance. Now, if you will follow Rei, she will guide you to temporary quarters for the night. Tomorrow, you will be moved into my apartment."

"This way." Rei said, then moved towards the doors at the other end of the long office.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. Both of you will be taken to the Observation room, where I will pick you up and take you to the apartment and then register you in the local junior-high." Gendo said, sitting back down at his desk, "Good evening Shinji, Asuka."

"Good evening father."

"Guten abend Gendo."

Rei lead the other two Children out, and the door sealed behind them.

"Well, Sensei," Gendo says sensei in a sarcastic tone, "it seems you were right."

"I've spent the last thirty years setting up this outcome." a man, roughly fifty years of age, resembling Gendo but with softer facial features and no beard, steps out of the shadows that hide a door, "I had better be right."

"Are things really so different now?"

"Very, but a good very. You're the master planner, I simply pointed you in the right direction."

"Don't sell yourself short," Gendo said sharply, then chuckled, "You learned from the master, you've said, so act like it."

The man chuckled.

"I'm a little older than you, and still don't quite have your confidence. Guess I've still got some more spine to grow."

"Perhaps."

"Rei will be good around them?"

"Of course. She may be the Seventeenth, but free-will lets her be our ally. As I've said, once the Sixteenth is defeated, Lilith will burn. Along with Adam."

"So you still intend to ship the embryo along side Unit-Two?"

"It is convenient, and the Committee will think nothing of it."

Nodding, the man walks back through the door in the corner, leaving Gendo alone to his paperwork, and a framed picture of the only things he ever cared about. Thing only things which ever drew emotion from him.

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A/N: Not much new, just a few minor edits.

* German for god-father. Yeah, my translations suck…

Hints at a Kyoko/Gendo relationship like the one implied by Gregg Landsman in his story "Walking in the Shadow of Dreams" is authorized by the aforementioned author. I highly recommend that story, as well as "Nobody Dies", and the "Father Knows Best" trilogy.


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